THF Monthly Kukai Voting Ballot — February 2022
This month’s theme:
icicles
Voting for The Haiku Foundation Monthly Kukai
Shortly after the conclusion of the submission period, an anonymous ballot comprising all submitted poems on that month’s theme will be posted to Troutswirl (The Haiku Foundation blog) on the THF site. Any reader of this ballot is eligible to vote for their favorite poems at this time. A voter may vote for up to five (5) poems per theme. A top vote will receive 5 points, a second-place vote 4 points, a third-place vote 3 points, a fourth-place vote 2 points, and a fifth-place vote 1 point.
Please use the Kukai voting form below to enter your selections, and then press Submit to cast your votes. No other votes will be recognized or honored. All votes must be signed (that is, no “anonymous” votes will be accepted, and the Submit button will not be available until both Name and Email fields are filled in), and no poet may vote for his or her own work. No commentary upon the poems will be accepted or published. Votes will be accepted from the appearance of the ballot on the 18th of that month through midnight of the 24th of that month. Readers may vote only once per ballot. Administrators of the kukai are ineligible to vote.
Note: Anonymity is an essential part of any kukai. If you know who wrote the poem then that entry is no longer anonymous. Please respect the Kukai and do not vote for that entry.
The Ballot
1 | a cold long cry begging to be given a cuddle | |
2 | a constant drip of the thawing icicles we finally talk | |
3 | a drop’s slow journey to the icicle tip time crystal | |
4 | abandoned house — the wind blows between the icicles | |
5 | after years apart — our hearts in the same rhythm with icicles drips | |
6 | all the long nights the crack of an icicle | |
7 | an ice cream parlour next to it is a child with a melting icicle | |
8 | An icicle falls Symbolising an ending By correlation | |
9 | an icicle melts into its own water . . . silent eaves | |
10 | an icicle on my hospital balcony how short life is | |
11 | Anticipating As the sun slowly rises The icicles sweat | |
12 | barely enough sun to get the snow to cry | |
13 | beaded lashes winter queens parade at the hot springs | |
14 | border barb wire — where the refugees cross crimson icicles | |
15 | Child gazes upward, Shimmering icicle, Popsicle, without a stick. | |
16 | church bells ringing louder — the icicles | |
17 | clear night the stars icicles | |
18 | Clinging to the eaves Distorting the view beyond Comes the equinox | |
19 | cold front you speak in icicle | |
20 | cold moon a phase encased In icicles | |
21 | dangling icicles reach out from skeletal trees— solemn tears | |
22 | derelict chapel . . . icicles beneath the eaves fill with moonlight | |
23 | drip, drip, drip, drip, drip thoughts of spring magnified drip of icicles | |
24 | drip : drip : drop the staccato bite of ice teeth | |
25 | drip-drop counting off its life the icicle | |
26 | drip drop drip drop – turning into lace overnight | |
27 | dripping icicles he wipes away her tears | |
28 | dripping icicles — on the pillow lies a cat belly up | |
29 | dripping icicles — teddy bear also has a cannula | |
30 | drop after drop caresses — lucent trees | |
31 | Droplets dwindling soggy thuds plunk on mosses ̶̶ dripping junipers | |
32 | dysfunctional family every icicle sharper than the other | |
33 | even here ice can’t keep the sunlight still even now | |
34 | evening grief . . . my son breaks a last icicle from the neighbor’s eaves | |
35 | falling moonstruck snow holds the ground in its slumber whispers promises | |
36 | February heat wave icicles melted into extinction | |
37 | Fingers, wet, cold, sore, Runs across the smooth surface, Melts the icicles | |
38 | first train — among the blades of grass a sound of ice | |
39 | free snacks — crunching icicles street kids | |
40 | frozen stiff liquid sunlight in the icicle | |
41 | glass icicles she asks me whether we can store Christmas | |
42 | glorious morning — in icicles it thaws the light | |
43 | hanging from my roof drops of life pour down on earth icicles melting | |
44 | her smile still holding the curl two winters after | |
45 | Her suppressed voice — those Icicles remains on the rooftop. | |
46 | her words . . . winter drips down from the gutters | |
47 | Hiems’ dagger hangs from our roof i c i c l e s | |
48 | his nose an icicle on my cheeks — winter school | |
49 | home this winter too icicles distance on our roof shelter in place | |
50 | I thought I knew you . . . icicle | |
51 | ice freezing — thawing sharp daggers lace rooftop eaves no death for choosing | |
52 | ice grows long under the cars Sunday morning street | |
53 | ice storm branches clatter at the glass | |
54 | icicle breeze something chimes between us | |
55 | icicle drip on my third eye spring awakening | |
56 | icicle . . . how long will he take to forgive me | |
57 | icicle in mittened hands slurp | |
58 | icicle lights at Christmas — a warm night | |
59 | icicle lights the pretense of being somewhere were not | |
60 | icicle melts after her piercing gaze tears in those eyes | |
61 | icicle stabs in heat of passion perfect crime | |
62 | Icicle taut on awning waiting for it to fall drip drip drip drip drip | |
63 | icicles — after all those years frozen tears | |
64 | icicles . . . dead tears my mother’s | |
65 | icicles dripping from the attic window mom’s lullaby | |
66 | icicles dropping from branches of family | |
67 | icicles form across the sleeping Buddha’s face | |
68 | icicles grow in searing heat, marital spat | |
69 | icicles — hibernating bats not guilty | |
70 | icicles . . . how soon moments become memories | |
71 | icicles I still dreaming about a Jedi sword | |
72 | icicles — if this winter had a mouth | |
73 | icicles image . . . the ups and down of the cardiogram | |
74 | icicles lined up along the library shelves just before icon | |
75 | icicles melt a lot of stress on my roof | |
76 | icicles melting — my grief moves from anger to bargaining | |
77 | icicles melting tick tock snowman dismissed | |
78 | icicles — my mom and I bite our tongues | |
79 | Icicles return building new shapes in the pines Along the old road | |
80 | icicles row we sit together in one sweater | |
81 | icicles sharpen in the afternoon sun . . . Amazon delivery | |
82 | icicles shimmer golden in the rising sun clink on ice below | |
83 | icicles song in the hand of a gravedigger a rusty penny | |
84 | icicles spring sun subtracts them from winter’s ledger | |
85 | icicles . . . still missing you words | |
86 | icicles . . . the glitter of sunlight drop by drop | |
87 | icicles the yawning cat’s full set of fangs | |
88 | i c i c l e s touch of our hands melts the chill | |
89 | icicles . . . with each drip the sound of spring | |
90 | icy daggers still hold my heart hostage . . . your sneer | |
91 | in the teeth of a cold snap icicles | |
92 | incense swirls and extends a branch of hyssop | |
93 | indecisive I become an icicle | |
94 | January sky Its sheer so clear, so blue. Nothing leaves a mark. | |
95 | Late afternoon The sound of icicles Dripping | |
96 | letting go of the high eaves — killer icicles | |
97 | like an icicle I’d like to just hang around without growing up | |
98 | lonely winter morning . . . icicles cascading her eyelids | |
99 | love in | |
100 | melting icicles . . . the music becomes a spring water | |
101 | midnight moon sound of icicles drop by drop | |
102 | mid-winter thaw the sound of icicles shattering | |
103 | midwinter thawing — the snow, the air, the valentine icicles gently weep | |
104 | mom’s funeral even the icicles weeping | |
105 | more hair in the comb one by one icicles fall from the eaves | |
106 | morning icicles beneath the eaves she cracks a smile | |
107 | morning jog dodging icicles shaken off skyscrapers | |
108 | my grudges one icicle melts slower | |
109 | nearing spring an icicle drips . . . . . . faster | |
110 | Neatly placed snowball to catch the perfect sword. | |
111 | no icicles this year frost shivers green fields of winter wheat | |
112 | Nome’s melting icicles the world’s oceans raised in Alaska | |
113 | noon sun — icicles reveal secret tears of the cold moon | |
114 | off the front porch icicles dripping soggy Sears seed catalog | |
115 | Olympic dope stain Icicle through the heart of Skating innocence | |
116 | orange grove branches droop with citrus scented icicles | |
117 | orange peels — the lonelines of the icicles in the fountain | |
118 | our silence sharpening icicles . . . | |
119 | overwinter dangling by an icicle daylight savings | |
120 | political chill growing icicles over Kiev | |
121 | q u e u e a man with icicles on his collar | |
122 | raging storm a firefighter covered in icicles | |
123 | razor-sharp icicles drop from the eaves checking in on Dad | |
124 | roof icicles my fingers numb from chemo | |
125 | silver wolf fangs drip with daybreaks spittle icicles aligned | |
126 | snow fight a currawong’s call thawing her heart | |
127 | snow melt warm air milking icicles | |
128 | So comely but cold like this world. Rigid short lived like a icicle on a early winters day. | |
129 | so unlike a leaf no trace of an icicle after its season | |
130 | soft rustle of shimmering pipal leaves grandma’s stories | |
131 | spring cleaning last year’s icicles — climate change | |
132 | square transparent touch and go hands delicate | |
133 | stabbing by the rooftop eave — the icicle its shadow | |
134 | stalactite . . . the icicles touch the ground | |
135 | sunshine through icicles grandpa’s gap-toothed smile | |
136 | thawing icicles . . . the young soldiers break into song | |
137 | The air warms The icicles fall, shattering Her cold heart | |
138 | The alpha dog too even his warm yellow light frozen in earthfall | |
139 | the breath of a fox trotting across the pond icicle moon | |
140 | the burn of the leaf ice morning | |
141 | the crescent moon who will melt the sky icicle | |
142 | The drip . . . Painfully cold and pointed, his last words to me . . . | |
143 | the first warm breath of spring — beads of sweat rolling down an icicle | |
144 | the ice in your eyes freezes me | |
145 | the icicle gives earth mother receives with grace precious water shared | |
146 | the icicles hanging on a window . . . this pain | |
147 | the last icicles above the hospital window notes of Vivaldi | |
148 | the morning bus . . . one drip at a time of an icicle | |
149 | the naked toes of Homeless Jesus . . . icicles | |
150 | the old woman watches the sunrise . . . late March icicles | |
151 | the seven colors — sunshine hits the row of icicles | |
152 | the tip of the icicle’s glacial longing for ground | |
153 | The water dulls blue Dripped down to form a funnel It shines in the cold | |
154 | they hang on the porch tiny glass ice drops dipped in wintry cold | |
155 | through the icicles through my dreams melting sun | |
156 | watching icicles drip in grandfather’s mouth | |
157 | Waving an icicle, Nature’s magic wand, Child turns winter into spring. | |
158 | where once there was love icicles | |
159 | win ter wind whit tling an i ci cle | |
160 | wind-blown mist as if in competition gorse bush icicles | |
161 | winter sun — the sound of transformation joins the clouds | |
162 | winter’s escape each icicle drips at its rate | |
163 | winter’s fashion statement frozen stilettos | |
164 | you were here, then not leaving just an icicle’s farewell, slow cold tears — |
Kukai Results
On the first day of the following month, results of the tally of the kukai will be announced. The top vote-getters as voted by readers will be posted, along with the number of points each poem tallied, and each poem’s authorship will be revealed at this time. Winners will be invited to select from a list of prizes provided by The Haiku Foundation. The theme for the new month will be announced at the same time, and the process repeated. Poems remain the copyrighted property of their authors, but The Haiku Foundation reserves the right to publish, display and archive all submitted poems for this and other purposes at its discretion.
Congratulations to all our participants!
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I have been writing haiku for the last 60 years but have not done anything with the poetry. In fact, most of it is lost during countless dramatic relocations. I decided to get my haiku more organized, resume learning about it, and perhaps get some of mine published again. I started writing “a haiku a day” and posting some of them on my Facebook group. Yesterday, I found this website and was thrilled to be able to participate in the voting for this kukai. It made me so happy to read such talented work, it inspired me to write one! I look forward to participating in future and meeting more haiku writers here and elsewhere.
Slurping slender verse:
Bright icicles delight my
hungry winter tongue